House Oversight Hearing on Foreclosure Prevention.

Website from hearing yesterday is HERE, includes links to written testimony and video of hearing. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

FHA Reform Passed Overwhelmingly in House, On to Senate.

WSJ has story on 406-4 vote and bill content HERE.

Thomas website for H.R. 5072 is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Tri-Met's Congressional Hearing Testimony on Sustainability in Practice References HUD Grants.

On March 10th Tri-Met General Manager Fred Hansen testified before a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Sustainability in Practice. This hearing immediately proceeded a second panel with HUD Deputy Secretary Sims and a DOT official on sustainability provisions in the FY 2011 budget.

General Manager Hansen's testimony is HERE (file will open to page discussing HUD grants); HUD Deputy Secretary Sims Testimony is HERE.

Director Hansen had this to offer about the transit connection to HUD Livability/Sustainability Grants:

What the Administration has proposed will go a long way toward supporting the development of livable communities. One concern is that initial proposals out of HUD for their Sustainable Communities grants do not mandate a role for transit – which we know is essential for making livable communities. This may be appropriate for the regional planning grants, but not so for the community challenge grants, which appear more focused on implementation. Supporting actual project implementation that embodies the outcomes we’re striving for will be key to building sustainable communities. Transit agencies must be at the table with cities, metropolitan planning organization (MPOs) and housing developers to make this happen. The importance of this region-wide coordination is a key lesson from our experience in the Portland region.

There are numerous examples of promising projects underway in our region, which could use direct support and which might be models for other areas. For example, we are currently working with the Housing Authority of Portland to improve transit access as part of the Hillsdale Terrace redevelopment project for which they have applied to the HOPE VI program. While we recognize that the current use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to fund the initiative may dictate which recipients are eligible for grants, there is a way to ensure transit agency participation in these planning efforts, either through heavily weighted criteria for partnership or through a direct requirement that transit be at the table.

It would also seem that, although we do need to strengthen capacity-building among MPOs for integrated regional planning, these initiatives must also support technical capacity-building within transit agencies (something we have, but most do not) to be viable partners with MPOs on these planning efforts, especially those that are modeling-heavy.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Wow, That Was Quick: House Passes Omnibus FY 2010 Spending Bill.

Was one hour of debate on Thursday AM. Doesn't look like single Republican voted for the bill.

Bill will now move to Senate for action.

Bill web site is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

UPDATED: Oregon/NW Claims Added-House Ways and Means: First Time HomeBuyer Tax Credt Abuse Hearing.

Update:
Table below is derived from page 71 in testimony and shows use of homebuyer tax credit in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.

(14,000+ Oregon families claimed $101 million; per capita Idaho claims were about 50% higher than in Oregon).

State	Oregon	Idaho	Washington
Rank	43	8	37
Number of filers claiming FTHBC	14,248	8,525	26,604
Population	3,790,060	1,523,816	6,549,224
Claims per capita	0.38%	0.56%	0.41%
Total dollars claimed	$101,012,536	$61,971,426	$189,408,939
Dollars per capita	$27	$41	$29

------------
WSJ story about testimony at today's House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on the administration of the first time home buyer tax credit program is HERE.

... the Treasury Department said that at least 19,000 filers who hadn't yet bought homes claimed $139 million in tax credits. Treasury officials said they have found another 74,000 tax-credit claims, worth $500 million, where evidence of prior homeownership could make their claims invalid.

I have consolidated all testimony into a single PDF file HERE. It includes proposed draft legislation from Rep. Lewis that attempts to correct the problems with the administration of the program.

C-SPAN Video of the entire one and a half hour hearing is available HERE

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

UPDATE 1: HUD House FY 2010 Appropriations Bill Nearing Vote; Listing of Related Resources.

UPDATE 1:
House Rule Committee Consideration; Conference Committee Report Now Available, Includes Earmarks.
The HUD appropriations bill is being considered this afternoon (Wed) by the House Rules Committee. The report on the bill is HERE; HUD section is on pages 152-206, and includes earmarks.

Once passed by the Rules Committee the bill will move on to consideration by the full House.

---
In advance of a House vote that could occur this week or next, resources related to the HUD FY 2010 appropriations bill are beginning to surface.

Text of the bill (which does not yet have a bill number) is HERE.

A bill summary from the Appropriations Committee is HERE; a list of program "cuts" (reductions from budget request) is HERE.

NLIHC has a updated budget comparison table that shows the latest House Appropriations Committee actions HERE. It shows FY 2010 budget authority of $47 Billion for HUD, $700 Million MORE than President's budget request.

A key missing document is the Committee Report which will eventually appear under House Approvals, Committee Report column in the FY 2010 appropriations bill status report website HERE. (Bill text, with a bill number, will also appear on this website).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Bankruptcy, AKA Judicial Loan Modification, Bill Set for House Vote.

Washington Post news story HERE has account of what has been changed in bill.

One of key changes is to provide a safe harbor to exclude loans where borrower was offered a "qualified loan amendment" under the March 4th guidelines.

The amendment to H.R. 1146 is HERE.

The Thomas page for the H.R. 1146 is HERE.

Recovery Bill Would Increase FHA/GSE Loan Limits Back to 2008 Levels.

The recovery bill in the House would increase FHA/GSE limits back to the temporary limits in place during 2008. A November 7, 2008 prior post included a side by side listing of FHA limits by county showing which counties had mortgage limit reductions and which had no changes; that table from the prior post is HERE.

Relevant text from the House bill, H.R.1 (Section 1203 contains similar language for the GSE's) is pasted below. (The Senate version of the bill S.1 has not yet been updated, so can't see if similar text is in the Senate bill).

"SEC. 12002. FHA LOAN LIMITS FOR 2009.

(a) Loan Limit Floor Based on 2008 Levels- For mortgages for which the mortgagee issues credit approval for the borrower during calendar year 2009, if the dollar amount limitation on the principal obligation of a mortgage determined under section 203(b)(2) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(2)) for any size residence for any area is less than such dollar amount limitation that was in effect for such size residence for such area for 2008 pursuant to section 202 of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-185; 122 Stat. 620), notwithstanding any other provision of law, the maximum dollar amount limitation on the principal obligation of a mortgage for such size residence for such area for purposes of such section 203(b)(2) shall be considered (except for purposes of section 255(g) of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-20(g))) to be such dollar amount limitation in effect for such size residence for such area for 2008."

In the future to see the CURRENT FHA mortgage limit for any area in Oregon (or anywhere else in the country), go HERE,

Senate Finance Committee Recovery Legislative Description Posted Prior to Mark Up Next Week; LIHTC Grant Provisions Not Included-Contact Wyden?

Explanation of revenue provisions of the proposed legislation, scheduled for committee markup on Tuesday January 27th, is available HERE.

News report indicate that the current Senate version of this legislation (House version now has a bill number H.R. 598) does NOT include the House version of the bill that would convert Low Income Housing Tax Credits into a grant. [LIHTC grants are found in Section 1711 of H.R.598].

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: Would be opportune moment to contact Senate Finance Committee member Ron Wyden (D.C. Office: (202) 224-5244) to let him know of your support for the addition of this provision in the markup session occurring on Tuesday, January 27th.

REQUEST: At $2.30 per capita, I project Oregon's 2009 LIHTC normal allocation would be $8,717,138.

However, I do NOT know how much that would translate into as a grant. If anyone DOES not, please feel free to add a comment with that amount and how you calculated it, or provide a weblink, if that is easier.

Video: Overlooked House Colloquy Supports TARP Purchase of HFA Mortgage Revenue Bonds.

Check out the C-SPAN Flash video HERE from House floor on January 14th.

Note that this would include ability to purchase HFA revenue bonds for subprime refinance loans, as authorized by summer 2008 federal housing legislation: Public Law 110-289, Section 3021(b)] .

House Ways and Means Outlines Tax Provisions of Recovery Plan, Including LIHTC.

They have established a web page HERE.

It includes a press release, summary, and the text of the draft bill.

NLIHC has a summary in their weekly Memo to Members, including a summary of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Provisions. I have pasted below:

" The House Committee on Ways and Means’ proposal for the economic recovery package deals with tax issues, and totals $275 billion portion of the $825 billion. The Committee’s package includes a provision to address the national stagnation of the low income housing tax credit market, which has stalled the development of tax credit projects.

The bill would allow states to reduce their 2009 housing credit ceiling by an amount the state would receive as a grant. This provision would reduce a state housing credit agency’s 2009 tax credit allocation by an amount that the state could then use to make grants to financially struggling projects in its 2007–2008 tax credit pipeline. The bill requires the Treasury Secretary to make a grant to the housing credit agency of each state in an amount equal to the state’s low income housing credit’s grant election amount.

The state would then use the grant to make sub-awards to finance the construction or acquisition and rehabilitation of low income buildings. The sub-awards would be made to finance a qualified low income building with or without tax credits. The state housing credit agency could only make sub-awards to non-housing credit buildings if it determines that such use would increase the total funds available to the state to build and rehabilitate affordable housing. Any grant funds unused as of January 1, 2011, would be returned to Treasury. For these grants, the bill would authorize “such sums” as may be necessary.

While this might solve the immediate crisis of stalled LIHTC projects, new projects will continue to be limited going forward.

The Committee’s bill also would remove the existing repayment requirement on the $7,500 first time homebuyer tax credit for homes purchased between January 1 and June 30, 2009, when the tax credit is set to expire, essentially turning the tax credit into a grant. The Committee estimates this provision will cost $2.686 billion over the next 10 years.

The Ways and Means Committee’s package would also create “recovery zone” tax exempt bonds and tax credit bonds for areas within states, cities or counties that have high unemployment, foreclosures or poverty. These bonds, expected to be issued in 2009 and 2010, would be allocated to states and large municipal governments based on the number of unemployed individuals. The recovery zones’ new resources would then seek to stimulate economic development.

The large package would also expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, increase the child tax credit, provide state and local government and businesses various tax benefits, increase unemployment insurance payments, encourage states financial incentives if they adopt unemployment insurance improvements and provide additional Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits, among other provisions."

Recovery Bill Info Posted at House Appropriations Site, Including HUD Related Items.

No bill numbers yet, but discussion draft information has been posted at House Appropriations Committee website:

1. Text of bill is HERE. (Caution, its 250+ pages long)
   
2. Report on bill is HERE (HUD related items are on pages 71-74)
3. Economic analysis is HERE.

U.S. House and Senate Add YouTube Channels.

Looks like its all promos for individual members right now, perhaps we will start seeing Committee Chairs getting wise and adding hearings to YouTube.

House channel/"hub" is HERE
Senate channel/"hub" is HERE.

CORRECTED: Ways and Means SubCommittee Hearing on Alternate Poverty Measures Includes Audio File.

I blogged about NYC role in this recently, but Subcommittee of House Ways and Means Committee recently held a broader hearing on the subject HERE. (Wash. Rep Jim McDermott is chair of Subcommittee).

I compiled all of the written testimony into a single file HERE

{Reference to audio file deleted, as it was to wrong hearing).

California US House Member Joins Ranks of Foreclosed.

LA Times story HERE about California member of U.S. House [D. Laura Richardson] who recently had a $550k home foreclosed upon. Story reports other defaults, at same time she was lending herself money to campaign!

Hearings on Targeting of Foreclosure Assistance Includes HUD Testimony on Allocation Criteria.

The House Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee held two recent hearings discussing neighborhood impacts of foreclosures HERE and the targeting of federal foreclosure assistance HERE.

Included in the latter hearing was HUD Policy Development and Research staff testimony HERE. on possible criteria for funding allocation formulas as well as identification of several data sources.

Web Video: Barney Frank Speaking to National Association of Realtors.

The always entertaining Chair of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank spoke yesterday to a mid year legislative meeting of the National Association of Realtors.

Broadcast by C-SPAN, the speech can be viewed on line using either the Flash or Microsoft Windows Median player in the right pane of a C-SPAN website HERE.

HOPE VI Amendments Clarification.

Now that Thomas has the actual text of amendments available a couple of clarifications from yesterdays post

1. The Veterans amendment DID remove ex offenders from the hard to house category, and DID add veterans to that category.
2. An amendment also PASSED that would prohibit criminal or drug related evictions of the elderly or disabled when they did not or should not have know of the criminal or drug related activity of a household member.

The full text of the bill, as passed by the House, is available as a PDF file HERE.

“Dr. No“ Stalls FHA Modernization Bill Vote in Senate.

Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, is a physician whose frequent legislative holds in the Senate have earned the well deserved nickname, "Dr. No".

Coburn was at it again this week, refusing a unanimous consent request that would have brought a new Senate version of FHA modernization Act (S. 2338) to a vote in the Senate this week.

A House passed version of this bill (H.R. 1852) passed by a veto proof margin in the House a long time ago while the Senate Banking Committee passed their mark up of the bill 20-1 in September.

According to a news story HERE, a deal to schedule the bill for a vote had been thought to have been worked out between the the Democratic and Republican leadership after the lone dissenting voter on Senate Banking Committee, Republican Elizabeth Dole from North Carolina, had agreed to lift her hold on the bill in exchange for a one year delay in risk based pricing provisions of the bill.

The THOMAS information about S. 2338 can be found HERE.

The THOMAS information about H.R. 1852 can be found HERE.

House Reforming Mortgage Practices Hearing, Today: All Written Testimony in Single PDF File.

Sixteen witnesses were scheduled to testify at a Reforming Mortgage Practices hearing before House Financial Services Committee. I have assembled all the currently available written testimony into a single PDF file HERE (1.8 MB, 148 pages).

Not included in the single file PDF are six unavailable written statements from The Honorable Martin J. Gruenberg, Vice Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; The Honorable John C.Dugan, Comptroller, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; The Honorable John M. Reich, Director, Office of Thrift Supervision; Mr. John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Operation HOPE, Inc.; Mr. Donald C. Lampe, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.

Check back on the Financial Services website for this hearing HERE to see if those written statements become available at a later time.

An audio file of the entire hearing will be posted when it become available.